Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-09-07
RARE OLD DOCUMENTS.
Curious Paper. ~ Historical Interest To 2
Seen az Washington.


seen az Washington.
Many Of tho most interesting possess
sions OF our Government arc never seen
by tho stranger, writes the Washington
correspondent % tho Cleveland Lcatier
Tho great departments Of Washington are
packet full Of curious autograph papcrs
Rni rare documents. Tho Treasury has
flies enough 20 carpet any state Of the
Union, and tho State Department has i'm.
portant autograph letters describing the
inside history OF every event which has
taken place during tho past one hundred
years 10 has diaries Of q Orge Washing.
ton, aimanacs Of Thomas Jefferson with
marginal notes, and 10 c1ntlins, I am
told, letters which " published would
not leave tho characters OF scme
OF our horocs OF the past a. higt
on tho scalo Of morality as they
now stand. Tho War Department
has all tho 10 ograms sent out from
tho white House during tho late war, AND
in n book Of those foun tho o;hcr day
some curious messages which Abraham
Lincoln sent, and In which he mentions
hts boy Tai. II has all 81 the papers Of
tho Confederate Government as they
woru captured &C X chmond, aud these
gnthorcd togo her In ono room make Up
tho ptcturc of deal nation In n nut
she'll. Tho PObsiOu Oflico has many
FURIOUS momcuto which has crcpt In
among its papers. There are claims for
Guv'rntncut land signed by a. Lincoln,
JET Davis, Ulysses y. Grant aud John A.
Logan for services In tho Mexican war.
aud cnmo across h'rc n paper which
showed That james g. Blamc's great
grnulmOthcr got pension for the
services 81 her husband a.
Bia There ORC diaries hero Of
soldiers II tho revolution, sent by thciI
descendants TO prove that they woro IL
Tho army, and there arc bushels OF family
e blHs which have served tho Same pur.
pose packed away, but ready 20 DO sent
out 10 their owners u domanicd
In tho first records Of tho Supreme
Court you my 500 tho books which have
the signatures OF Aaron Burr, Alexander
Hamilton and othors Of the great lawyers
or tho past, made when thoy wcro here
frat admitted tOpracticc The frat record
~ admission Is Kept In great vault, and
ht~au't graz hs make u worth ia weight
On 60 a. I had tho clerk show II 10 me
one day. n Is very ordinary looking
blank book, a foot and n half long and sir
inches wide. Iis cnvcrs arc rusty with
many years, AMI ia parchment-bound
corners have boon oaten through
l.x time. On its back IL rcd labol, aud
hero ~ read: ''The Supremo Court Of the
U"itSd states" Opening u, tho paper is
rough and unrulcd, and its quality Is
poorer than that now used as wrapping
shoots IN a corner grocery. II has beou
dScolorcd BY tho fadod pink blotters
which lie between its loavos, and its ink
has pnlcd. This book IL within three
years OF ono hundred years oil. II was
b'Run In iTol and noted that for tho
hrst twenty yodrs Of tho Supreme
Courts existence II had but very little
- 40 - -,
iia bar recorded Turing It's first year, and
mo n ~ two lawyers that prart ccd be.
forp u are John Cald wolf and BENJAMIN
X Morgan, who were admitted Ina it'll
Two pnScs OF this record contain tho
usnies 81 oil tho lawyers who p-ac.
tiCOd before tho court for twcnty-six
years, or until 1SiG and note
that Alexander N milton, ono OF tho most
noted lawyers OF his iimo. dill not 500 M
20 apply for entrance 20 II before ls1I
Allen g. Thurman's nnmc ~ rad on the
rhirty-hfth page; aud tfJcr Ills tmo the
admissions mutt ply and soon nll volumes
instead 20 pages. Tho Supreme Court
work has sprung from nothing into the
busiest and tot paying practice in the
country, and its lawyers ofton reeve
single foes winch run Iuto tho tens OF
thousands
Moro inbcrNsting than all clso, however,
~ far original papers nre concerned,
arc the hlc-rooms OF Cunyrc = Tho House
~ Representatives. has tho original dOcu.
paou = Il all tho papers INJECTED with its
history. IL has Cvoy bill That has ever
been introduced, every petition that
has Cvor boon presented, cvcJy mes.
Rago that President has cvor sent, and
the original reports Of the Cabinet Minis
ters b. ck 10 tho days when W ,shingtou
wa President and Alexander Hamilton
managed tho Treasury. IL IL impossible
20 conc'ivo tho extent Of these papers
Thov GIL thousands Of bound manuscript
volumes, and tho brain roofs In tho at
tempted comprehension Z the matter con.
thinod In them. Tho only man in the
United States who has any adequate idea OF
thom Is Hon. Ferris Finch, Hlc clork OF the
House, who has had charge 81 thom for a
generation, and who has brought them
into ordor out OF chaos They arc now
30 arranged that at moments notice
any paper can DO found, aud ~ walk.
cd through room after room vailed
with thcm today I could 500 that
tho complotest Classification had boon
nude. climbed story after story Of mar
row iron stairs surrounded by these dnad
uonos Of pnst administrations, aud finally,
away up under tho domo Of tho Capitol
building, whore tho light comes in only
through n Elass-covercd hole in tho roof,
found myself carried back TO tho earliest
days OF our Government
All around mo, IN lcdgcr-liko volumcs
lay tho messages OF tho earlier Presidents.
aud every book I opened brought 70 my
eyes something new and rare IN anti
qunrian history. Many OF tho messages
wore In tho handwriting OF tho President
who signed them, AMI the reports OF the
Socrotarios were oitcn made in tho same
way. I stumbled across tho paper In
which Jefferson announced TO Congress
that he would sond written messages
20 them, and woui1 not como In
p1rson TO deliver spccchocs, as his
predecessors had done. And found the
written instructions, probably kept secret
when they wcro issued, ~ which in our
war with tho Blrbtry powers tho Amer
isnn naval Oflcors wore instructed 70 nay
$4,000 and $4,000 10 secure immunity for
American commercs from their piratical
shIps. / saw many messages OF John
Adams m his bold up-an '-down hand. as
pompous In pen aud ink rs their writer
was IN person. and as 1 road them I 70
called Adams vanity and tho rcmark III
mido when f-icnd said: M. Adams
you and General Washing; on did we'll
With STRENGTHENING up IL his littlo IA
fDfm and n throwing back Of his semi bald
head. he replied: "Bcg your pardon, sir
you should not spy George Washington
and John Adams, but John Adams anC
George Washington, for John Adams
mado George Washington"